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Sunday, March 6, 2016

2.12.3.4. Franz Burglechner (1909-1985)

Franz "Frank" Burglechner was born on 3 April 1909 in Hungary, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Maria Miller. However, he considered his race or nationality to be German. I do not know his father's given name.

On 7 June 1913 Frank, his mother and two sisters, Clothilda "Tillie" and Rudolphine boarded the S/S Finland in Antwerp, Belgium, and arrived in New York City on 18 June. They likely traveled by train to Centerville, Illinois, to join his maternal grandfather, John Miller. The family had lived in Moers, Germany, before they immigrated. In 1930 Frank worked at the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) ore factory in East St. Louis.

Frank married Verna Muir sometime before 1935 and the coupled lived in Verna's father's house at 436 North 80th Street in Centerville, Illinois.

On 16 December 1940 Frank, his mother, and sister, Tillie (Burglechner) Toth, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit welfare fraud. On 31 December 1940 the charges were dismissed upon the motion of Attorney General John E. Cassidy of Illinois. The charges were related to Tillie Toth's work at the Centerville Relief office and her testimony against the administrator of the office in an earlier trial.

By 1940 Frank and Verna had a three-year-old daughter and Frank continued to work as a laborer at the aluminum ore factory. He worked for ALCOA through the 1940s and at least the 1950s.

Books about Allied Families

The story of the James Wilson family of Topsham, Maine, who came to the United States in 1719 and over 20,000 of his descendants, living and dead, including Martha Brodie, great granddaughter of Robert Muir.